Chapter 247: Sentancer

Chapter 247: Sentancer

With a group of five Silver Flames knights rapidly approaching, Erec got the distinct impression they weren’t exactly on his side. Those helmets obscured their eyes, and considering he and Garin were just minding their own business sparring on Academy ground, he could see no reason for their approach other than trouble.

While they weren't on the grounds of the Verdant Oak dormitory but in a nearby field, this was unprecedented. People using these fields for training were common, and there were many such as these around the Academy: clean, empty, and always with freshly mowed grass that went hand in hand with the intoxicating cut-grass smell.

So, it made sense that at the first sign of trouble, Garin sent Munchy running off to the dorms—Erec flexed his grip on his axe. With it in hand, he could take on the world itself. Neither fists nor a sword lent him such certainty, but with this? Any challenge was conquerable. And the Knights, seeing that he now was armed, slowed their pace. Taking a minute to walk the rest of the way across the field.

"Sir Erec," one of them tried to confirm. He was the one in the lead, his voice slightly modulated from a helmet modification. An attempt to disguise it?

"That's me," Erec called back, “Who has the pleasure of tracking me down in the middle of training?” He kept them all in his view as they approached, tracking all five like beasts as they began to spread out. They had rods in their hands and swords sheathed at their sides. Garin stayed behind him, and for that, Erec felt grateful, not wanting his friend to get involved with whatever mess this was.

There was no answer to his question.

"Last I checked, I was an initiate of the Verdant Oak. So what exactly are a bunch of Silver Flames Knights doing, coming and bothering me during my training?"

"We just wanted to talk," the Silver Flames Knight said, and then he pointed at Erec’s axe. "If you wouldn't mind dropping your weapon, we could talk civilly."

"I don't want to talk," Erec said. "I want you to go about your way and leave me be. If you have any business with me, you can direct it through the Verdant Oak, and then I'll respond."

A suspicious and gross overreach for the Silver Flames.

This was a blatant break in the chain of command—the chain that all Knights operated by, connecting the rank and file up the Order to the Grandmaster and lastly to the crown itself. Given that this was the foundational principle that the Orders began with, Erec felt insulted. Even acknowledging this violation of their oaths as an act of maleficence pissed him off. As hard as it was, he tried to keep his axe steady, and cocked his head.

"What? Me without Armor and this axe is making you all hesitate? I don’t even know who you are, or why you want to talk.

“Make as much time as you can, draw this out,” Garin whispered behind him. Ah, he wanted Munchy to hurry for help.

Two parts of Erec warred: the one listening to his friend's plan, and the part that wanted to punish these people for daring to insult him and the Knights.

"I don't know what your aim is," Erec continued, already feeling fury in his stomach. Fine, he’d buy as much time as he could. "I am willing to cooperate, but we're talking right here. So what's this pleasant little chat I've been gifted with going to be about?”

"You see, that doesn't serve us very well. This is a private discussion that must take place somewhere else. I'm afraid if you're unwilling to drop your arms and have a peaceful conversation, you must be forcibly detained." The Knight responded, but whoever was beneath that helmet had to know their words were a blatant violation of their sacred tenets.

Ah, here we go, sorry, Garin.

There was no time to drag out and buy. If they were so eager to escalate this and drag him away kicking and screaming, there wasn't much he could do about it. Erec suspected they were going to drag him to some priests, given the Silver Flames' ties to the Church. He never understood why they kept them in such high regard, but Erec sighed as they began to advance and then gave up the pretense of civility.

In moments like this, with one against five, when you didn't have any Armor on you, often your best bet was to go on the offensive before the enemy could continue circling his position. So he did just that.

Without warning, he snapped forward, bringing his axe in a vicious undercut that smashed into the helmet of the knight who'd been talking with him. They reeled back, a dent in their helmet as Erec pivoted backward and snapped the handle of his axe into another Knight that had tried to close in behind, making the man stumble back.

With each hit and movement, he felt Fury’s warm embrace in his heart.

[Duck] VAL warned, and Erec did just that, missing a swinging staff as it whizzed through the air above. It was like a metal staff, a nice thwack to the skull that might’ve knocked him out.

Now on the ground, Erec used his leverage to spring to the right, kicking up dirt and grass with a pulse of his muscles. He spun as he moved, narrowly blocking a downswing of a staff with the handle of his axe; this one, though, sparked with electricity. A current ran through it, and then into the metal handle of his weapon, numbing his hands as it sparked.

His muscles convulsed and his grip tightened, and with a roar, Erec shoved and broke the weapon’s contact.

The first Knight he'd hit was back on his feet and recovering, and the others were regarding him with a more wary stance; none were eager to move in. Luckily, none of them had gone after Garin. His friend had retreated further back in the field, but it seemed that their target, their sole and only duty in this mission, was to get him.

They don’t want to kill me. Erec’s thoughts barely strung together as he moved, watching another one of those shocking glyphs—and then the Knight toward the back began to conjure a glyph, making him the next target.

Erec flew forward, a bundle of muscle and power, slashing his axe through the magical glyphwork, causing it to burst in a spray of flame that he continued to push through. It scorched his hand, but he ignored the pain and buried his axe into the knight's chest plate, who dared use magic. It dented and caught, ripping through the metal that halted Erec briefly as he had to yank his weapon back out.

A Knight came up behind in that brief pause and tried to prod him with a staff. [Behind!] warned VAL, and he shifted on his heels, feeling the staff skim his abs and send a horrible shock surging through his rib cage as it did so.

Not good, Erec thought, his blood warming up as the fiery inferno inside whipped up into a storm. They thought to tame him using stun prods, a foolish bet. With Fury's heat becoming a rising star in the middle of his chest, that would do little against him. VAL had used the same technique back at the start of their relationship, and even then, it had only been nominally effective, and as he progressed, his talent was nothing.

[Behind again. Two this time.]

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Erec did his best, trying to dart forward past the Knight whose chest plate he’d just cleaved, but was shoved back and then took two prods in the back. His muscles spasmed as his legs threatened to give out, and then internally he felt that fire roar from a star into a supernova, feeling it expand as the heat and waves from it, and righteous anger at being betrayed by those within the Knighthood Order roiled through him.

Lava ran through his veins. He let the shock in his back spur him forward. He swapped to holding his axe in one hand and used the other to yank one of the rods behind him out of their grip. And then he threw it at the Knight ahead of him, stunning them as it hit point blank against their helmet.

Erec spun on his heel and with a single hand crashed his axe into the one still shoving their stun stick into him—CRACK.

The edge of the axe went deep, spilling blood as he tore through the metal and met the face below. In a second, the man went to the ground, gasping, and his hands went to their caved-in helmet.

Erec darted out, not liking how four of them had once more gathered around. With bursts of speed as his muscles shoved him through the air, he made space. This didn’t go unpunished; one began to pray, and a chain of light appeared around his chest and legs, trying to spear into the ground and force him to stay put. He broke this with a flex of muscles, feeling the fire inside run wild, burning everything. Erec laughed, his eyes a bright red even as his muscles convulsed from the aftereffects of the electricity shoved in him.

“Why isn’t he going down?” one of the Knights complained as they started to close in again.

Erec’s vision went red, and he beat them to the chase. Launching himself at the nearest Knight. An open palm grabbed at their visor—and then, tensing every muscle in his forearm, he bent the metal and yanked, tearing off the plate and throwing it aside.

A shocked, pale face revealed for but a second before Erec yanked his fist back and slammed it right into the man's nose.

CRUNCH.

Blood spilled in a geyser as the man fell limp to the ground.

Three left.

Erec took a deep, racking laugh, and another shocking prod hit his side. His muscles twitched, but he withstood the pain, using it to further fuel the fire inside. Then he saw it. The flickers of silver in the inferno, ready to take him even further. All of him was pissed—the fact that these people had gone and done the unthinkable, betraying a fellow knight.

Erec knew what was coming.

"Thou art condemned to execution," he said, "for breaking thy sacred oaths.” He delivered the lines as his memories overlapped. If they were going to take him in for their questioning, working on behalf of a holy order that didn’t even subscribe to the Knightly ideals, then they had asked for whatever damage he would bring. In this case, they deserved the fate of one who dared betray their knightly duties and orders. He would become judge, jury, and executioner.

They retreated, the three of them exchanging looks as two of their other knights rolled on the ground. Ruined.

"Come and face judgement, or art thou of cowardice?" Erec proceeded to taunt, feeling the silver flames lick up from his axe up his hand, forming into a silver armor that shrouded him. After taking down two, he guessed at their ranks. Knight Protectors, most likely. Which meant that this was likely unsanctioned by the Silver Flames. So their punishment could be limited to them. There was no world in which they were acting on orders.

With a surge of fire, he rushed the nearest Knight, his axe slashing through the Armor. Unlike before, when it dented and barely cut, now, as it was coated in silver flame, it slid through it easily, going straight into the man's muscles and bones below.

The guy let out a scream as he stumbled back, parts of his Armor still burning with silver fire as blood spilled out and turned to steam.

Another moved in to cover their allies’ retreat, flashing a bright blue glyph in Erec’s face.

The glyph hit in a snap; cold coating him, running up his legs as it threatened to encase him in a layer of ice… And then the cold went away with a pulse of silver flames, burned away in seconds with a burst of steam.

“Tis this not the Silver Flames thou dost proclaim to worship? Fall at my feet, and beg pardon, or die.” Erec commanded, and then laughed. His Strength was pure, the mantle clear. This was an act of justice for their betrayal of the Knighthoods. And they should pay the ultimate price.

The man who’d cast the glyph was stunned—Erec stepped forward, axe high above his head and flaring with silver fire. He would end this man, then finish the other; it was time to end this farce.

He brought his axe down in a clean arc to cut straight through the guy’s skull, only for it to connect with a sword.

Boldwick.

The Master Knight’s sword met him; coated in its own magic fire, it flared against the silver flames of Erec’s axe, as the two raged for a brief second.

"Step out of my way," Erec ordered. "Thy see my work shall be done. Those who stand before us have violated their sacred oaths and shall be punished."

"Yes, they shall," Boldwick confirmed, still holding his sword against Erec's axe, and not stepping out of the way at all. But he didn’t do so easily. He saw, though, even amongst the Master Knights, the man's hand was shaking underneath the force bearing down upon that axe.

Erec didn't delude himself. Even in this state, he knew this was a mighty foe indeed. Unlike the ones that he had been executioner to, getting beyond this Knight meant a glorious battle.

"Thou wish to challenge my sentence>" Erec said, two minds screaming at him at once. He had to finish what he had started, end this fight the way it deserved. They had violated their oaths, and their punishment was death. Another part of him screamed that it was Boldwick, his mentor, his master. He had to concede the battle. Yet the part that was him from so many lives before, the part enthralled with the battle, wondered… If Boldwick’s hand was shaking, just how strong was he anyway? If might made right, and Erec was the mightiest in this situation, then shouldn't he enforce justice and see the rest of this fight done?

Boldwick's eyes were pleading as he looked at Erec, no doubt seeing the silver fire burning there. Maybe he could feel the searing and righteous anger.

"Erec," he called once more, trying to bridge the gap and make sense to him. "You need to stop. I understand. They attacked you. You defended yourself. That is righteous. Now, we need information on why they attacked you. We need a report. We need this to be documented rather than you sitting above five Silver Flames corpses. That will no doubt only be used as more ammo to condemn you rather than do us any good.”

Erec's axe shook, fighting off the silver flames. Second by second, he stripped away the influence that mantle had over him. All those layering memories, all of that past, all of those instincts screaming at him to do justice. It was the way of many worlds he knew, the way that many Erecs had fought in a society where he and the other Knights had to operate on such laws. There were plenty of lives where such harsh measures were needed.. In this, his society, this Erec's world, it was not the case. There was more at play than that.

Even though part of him hated that, he had to acknowledge his mentor was right.

The silver fire that made his Armor faded away. Erec's eyes began to lose the silver flames that burned away in their sockets, and he let his axe drop, taking in a deep breath.

Munchy was chitchatting on Boldwick's shoulder.

How had the squirrel run so fast? Erec narrowed his eyes as he looked at the fat squirrel, wondering just how such an obese creature had managed to cover enough distance to find the master knight in time.

"Of course, you're right, Sir," Erec said, offering up his axe and lowering his head. “I apologize.”

"There is no need for an apology. You were right that they violated their oaths and must be punished. And I understand where you’re coming from.” Boldwick responded, turning to the two Knights who remained standing, “The Verdant Oak officially detains you two. Your Order will be notified, but I do not think they will demand your release after these crimes.” Both remaining Knights had enough sense to drop their weapons. After being shown mercy, it would be foolish to demand death.

Erec rubbed at his skull, feeling it throb. Now he saw sense, the more reasonable part of him slowly moving in like slush going down a slope. He let in a deep breath and then glared at the Knights who had come at him. A flare of anger ran through him, and he spat on the nearest one, "Next time you wish to take me on, bring more.”

“That is fine, Sir Erec. I will take over. More Knights are on the way,” Boldwick declared, gesturing for him to step back.

Erec did so and noticed a pulsing dot in the corner of his vision, a notification. Though the fight had been brief, he had gained something from it, so maybe this hadn't been a waste after all.

AgilityRank C - Tier 6 → Rank C - Tier 7

Agility? Erec took in the stat as he watched Boldwick command the other Knights to lie down on the ground. Garin was there a moment later, putting a hand on Erec’s back and asking, “Are you alright?”

Erec gave a little shake, glaring down at the five Knights whom he’d forced to a defeat. Now that his brain was working again, he realized this was a big deal, right? What would it mean going forward?

“As good as I can be," he said, as they watched, waiting for the other Knights to arrive and take these two into custody.